Latest news with #Noakes
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'It's nauseating': Residents in Kentville, New Minas raising big stink about recurring sewage plant odour
Spring is in the air and so is a familiar stench in New Minas and Kentville. Some residents in the neighbouring Annapolis Valley communities are fed up with the recurring pungent odours from the regional sewage treatment plant in New Minas and say it's time for the Municipality of the County of Kings to come up with a solution once and for all. "It's nauseating, it's overwhelming. I'm sure it's not good for our physical health. And it's been going on for too long," said Sue Smiley, an avid cyclist whose outings frequently take her past the plant, which sits adjacent to the Harvest Moon Trail that connects several Valley communities. The regional treatment plant in New Minas is the municipality's largest, and services Kentville, New Minas, Coldbrook, Greenwich and several private industries. The smell comes and goes, residents say, but when it arrives, it makes outdoor activities unbearable. It is particularly troublesome in hot, humid weather. Dawn Noakes of New Minas, who owns a dog grooming business in Kentville, said she started smelling the odour about a year after she moved to the area. "In 2018, we noticed an outhouse type of odour. It went on for a few days and we didn't think much about it, but then it went on for a month," said Noakes. Seven years later, the smell persists. "We've settled in this subdivision and we love it there. Our neighbours are great. The properties are lovely. I love where I live, but I can't enjoy where I live," said Noakes, who created a Facebook group where residents have taken their complaints about the situation. Kristin Lohnes, a student at the Nova Scotia Community College in Kentville, is a member of the Facebook group. She describes the odour as being similar to rotting food. "It can get to a point where it's making people physically sick, myself included. We get headaches and nausea and it's not a good scene. And where I myself have asthma, it's been rough," said Lohnes. In a statement to CBC News, chief administrative officer Scott Conrad said the municipality is working with "outside experts" to determine the cause of the odour and resolve it as quickly as possible. The municipality has identified a problem that "appears to be a lack of oxygen in the first of five lagoons wastewater cycles through during the treatment process," the statement said. "The community is understandably asking for prompt action and long-term improvements, and the Municipality is determined to deliver." But Kentville resident Robyn Joys questioned whether the system is equipped to handle a slew of new housing developments. "They don't have the infrastructure in order to upkeep all the 200 more or so toilets that are flushing and they should have never been approved before they addressed the sewage system," said Joys. The municipality's website details a number of upgrades to the treatment plant amounting to $9 million in improvements since 2017. It's not enough for Noakes. "It's the same rhetoric. It's like this is what the problem is and this is what we've done, but we haven't resolved the problem yet," she said. The municipality posted another update after a recent council meeting. It said it is working with "engineering firms with experience in wastewater treatment" to get the odour at the plant "under control," and outlined short- and long-term solutions. But residents like Joys are still waiting for results. "It's been too many years where we've had this issue.… And I'm very tired of excuses and I just would like to stop smelling the stink," she said. MORE TOP STORIES
Daily Record
14-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Record
New proposed changes to sick pay rules could provide help to over one million workers
The new Employment Rights Bill would see sick pay kick in from the first day of absence for all workers. Employers will struggle with growing staff absenteeism under proposed UK Government plans to introduce sick pay from the first day of illness, critics have warned in Parliament. Concerns were raised in the House of Lords on Tuesday over the impact of scrapping the current three-day waiting period and removing the lower earnings limit to qualify for the payment. The measures relating to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) - worth £118.75 per week - form a key part of flagship workers' rights reforms. Labour argues the existing situation can force people to work when they are unwell, leading to the spread of infection and poorer productivity for businesses. Under the changes proposed in the Employment Rights Bill, sick pay will kick in from the first day of absence - while around 1.3 million on low wages would become eligible. However, Conservative shadow business minister Lord Hunt of Wirral argued the legislation brought with it 'a raft of unintended consequences'. He said: 'Absenteeism is a critical issue for many businesses especially those in hospitality, retail and other service-based industries, where staff shortages can lead to disruption, cancellations and even closures. 'With the removal of waiting days for SSP and the expansion of eligibility it is essential that all of us should understand fully how these changes are going to affect absenteeism patterns across various sectors. 'One of the sectors most concerned with the potential rise in absenteeism that these changes will cause is of course hospitality.' He added: 'The concern is that the reforms could result in workers taking sick leave when it may not be strictly necessary as the financial implications of their doing so would be mitigated by the statutory sick pay payment.' 'We believe it is essential that the Government thoroughly evaluates how these statutory sick pay provisions would affect absenteeism. 'When workers can call in sick and expect SSP from day one businesses will inevitably be forced to deal with more absences at short notice.' Fellow Conservative peer Baroness Noakes said: 'Extending the days for which payment is made is likely to increase the number of days lost to sickness, as the current incentive to work if the illness is mild will simply disappear. 'The Government say they have no idea what the behavioural impact of the changes will be – whether positive or negative – but I am prepared to bet that there will be far more short-duration absences, which will qualify for statutory sick pay, than there were before.' However, former general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Labour peer Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway said: 'The Covid pandemic exposed just how precarious life is for those in insecure, low-paid work, and we do not know how many preventable illnesses were caused by people struggling into work and spreading the virus because they could not afford to stay home. 'But we do know, as we have heard, that forcing people back to work when they are ill is bad for workers and bad for business, puts pressure on the NHS and is costly for the economy.' She argued SSP had failed to keep up with the cost of living or increases in the living wage. Business minister Baroness Jones of Whitchurch said the proposed changes to sick pay would cost businesses around an extra £15 per employee, which she described as 'a relatively modest amount'. She added: 'I assure the House that the Government remain committed to monitoring the impact of these SSP measures.' Lady Jones went on: 'Our proposals have to be seen in the wider context of the Bill. The Bill is intended to improve the experience of employees at work, so measures such as flexible working, guaranteed hours and protection from harassment could – we believe will – reduce stress at work, potentially leading to fewer incidents of burn-out and better employee mental health, and therefore fewer related absences. 'For us, that is an important challenge that we intend to monitor.'
